


Soon

by IdrisTardis7878



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Captain Cobra - Freeform, Complicated Emotions, Gen, difficult conversations, henry and killian bonding, mentions of background captain swan, post ep tag for 6x06 - Dark Waters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 05:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16948029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdrisTardis7878/pseuds/IdrisTardis7878
Summary: Henry finds out that Killian didn't get rid of the shears when Emma asked him to - and his anger at Killian causes him to lash out. But all is not exactly as it seems...





	Soon

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr on October 30, 2016. Original author's note reads as follows:
> 
> A/N: So, all of this was inspired by the Henry-focused sneak peek for 6x06 – Dark Waters. After watching it three or four times, I began to think that Henry’s reaction to the EQ revealing the shears wasn’t actually anger. All he says in that scene after the reveal is “he kept them,” (which I actually think he sounded glad about), and then tells the EQ that she can’t have them (i.e. he wants to keep them). Given that sneak peek, combined with Henry’s own guilt about setting Emma on track to become the Savior…I actually thought his reaction might have been much more similar to Killian’s in seeing the usefulness of hanging onto the shears…and lo, this ficlet was born. It got a lot longer than anticipated – so here’s roughly 2,425 words of Captain Cobra goodness. Hope you all enjoy!!

Killian had just closed the front door after Emma’s departure – her kiss lingering on his lips and her promise to be home in plenty of time for dinner echoing in his thoughts – when the back door burst open with such force that it nearly crashed into the wall. He turned at the sudden noise, watching as Henry barely managed to catch the knob in time to avert disaster.

“Careful lad,” he said, moving back towards the kitchen intending to clear away the rest of their breakfast dishes. “Don’t want to go putting a hole in the plaster now, aye?”

Henry shrugged slightly and muttered something that sounded vaguely like an apology, though it seemed to lack a touch of his usual sincerity. He Killian chalked Henry’s moodiness up to the fact that he’d not been thrilled that Emma had tasked him with taking out the refuse from last night’s movie binge.

Deciding to let it go, he began to pick up the dishes and move them to the sink. “Well, if you fetch your schoolbooks, I can attempt to help you with the mathematics you were asking me about yesterday. If we finish everything by lunchtime, we can take the Jolly out this afternoon if you’d like.” He glanced over his shoulder only to catch sight of Henry stuffing several items into his backpack. “Henry?”

The boy barely glanced up, his eyes flicking in Killian’s direction for only a moment before he looked back down at the things he was shoving into his bag. He closed it and slung it over his shoulder as Killian turned fully back around to face him. “Lad?”

“Uh, look, I forgot that I’d promised Violet I would meet her at the library and work on our history homework together,” Henry said, taking a backwards step towards the front hall. “She texted me while I was out in the garage or I wouldn’t have remembered. I’ve gotta go – I’m gonna be late.”

Killian frowned. While there was nothing out of the ordinary in Henry’s words, there was something decidedly off in his manner. “Alright,” he said slowly, choosing not to pry. Hopefully, if there were anything bothering the lad, he’d be comfortable talking about it in his own time. Maybe he’d open up when they were out on the water later. “Let me know when you’re finished, and we can still go for that sail.”

Henry had already reached the front door, and he stopped and turned with his hand on the knob. “Yeah, uh, I’ll try…I might have to take a raincheck, Killian. I don’t know how long it’ll take with Violet – we have a really big project to work on. See you later.”

Before Killian could even open his mouth to voice his growing concern, Henry had opened the door and slipped through. It closed hard behind him, the resounding slam echoing through the otherwise empty house.

-/-

A couple of hours later, after finishing cleaning up the kitchen and fruitlessly attempting to read one of the most recent books Belle had loaned him – a normally rather engrossing novel called  _The Sea Hawk_  – Killian found himself upstairs in the bedroom he now shared with Emma, putting away a few more of the belongings he’d brought with him from the Jolly.

Henry’s behavior weighed heavily on his mind. While it could simply be adolescent moodiness – caused by something Emma had referred to as “hormones” – and he might be overreacting, he didn’t think so. He might not have Emma’s superpower, but Killian had his own talents in being able to read people, especially those he was close to, and he was nearly positive there was something more than homework troubling Henry.

He resolved, as he slid his spare pair of boots into the small patch of closet floor not already covered by haphazard piles of Emma’s shoes, to give the lad until lunchtime. If he’d not heard from Henry by then, he’d try reaching out to him again about going sailing. He couldn’t deny that he’d been a bit disappointed that Henry’d brushed it off with such seeming casualness earlier. Seeing as it was a Saturday, he’d been planning a longer sail and a bit of fishing. It was his first weekend of actually living in this house with Emma and Henry, and he’d wanted to make a few new traditions to start it off properly.

Killian looked around the master bedroom, unable to keep the grin from tugging at the corners of his mouth despite his worry over Henry. Bit by bit, his clothes and the few trinkets and books he’d brought from his ship were being spread around the house – slowly, it was beginning to feel more and more like it was truly home. His thoughts drifted back to Henry and he sighed to himself, stiffening his resolve to reach out to the boy if he’d not heard from him by noon.

-/-

Thankfully, Henry beat him to the punch – though the text conversation the boy initiated at about a quarter till noon didn’t truly alleviate any of Killian’s concerns.

_HS: Hey. Sorry I was kinda weird this morning. Can we talk?_

Killian stared briefly at the brusque message before replying.

**_KJ: Of course, lad. Are you finished with your homework?_ **

_HS: Can you meet me at the library? In Belle’s office, actually._

He frowned, brows furrowing, but replied in the affirmative. Hopefully, he’d be able to get to the bottom of what was going on.

**_KJ: Aye. I’ll be there straightaway._ **

_HS: Okay. And Killian…try not to let anyone see you._

At that, Killian’s eyebrows reversed course and arched so high in disbelief he felt like they were trying to climb off his forehead. He replied briefly to Henry, telling him he’d do his best, before firing off a quick text to Emma, letting her know that his plans with Henry had changed and that he thought the boy had something on his mind and that he’d asked to talk with him about it. She sent him back an encouraging message followed by a small depiction of a smiling face that he understood was meant to be reassuring.

He slipped on his jacket and slid his phone into the pocket before heading down the stairs. He could only hope that the upcoming conversation would go better than this morning’s.

-/-

“Do you think anyone saw you?”

Killian had barely made it inside Belle’s office behind the library’s main circulation desk before Henry’s voice, hardly more than a whisper, reached him. He shut the door and turned, leaning back against it. “No, I was quite careful to be discreet,” he said as he eyed the boy where he sat behind Belle’s large, ornate desk. He seemed small, younger even than his years, hunched over in the desk chair as he was. “Now, would you care to enlighten me as to what’s going on? And does Belle know you’re in here?”

Henry nodded. “I told her I needed to talk to you about it in private, but not at home or on the Jolly. She said we could use her office.” He paused for a moment, fidgeting with something he held in his hands below the edge of the desk. Killian couldn’t see what it was, but Henry’s eyes were trained directly on it. The boy took a deep breath before bringing his hands up and laying their contents on the desk. “And, uh, these are what’s going on.”

The shears gleamed in the harsh glare of the overhead fluorescent lighting. Killian stared blankly at them for the space of several heartbeats before looking up and meeting Henry’s eyes. He swallowed hard. “How…” he began, but his voice failed him for a moment. He tried again. “How did you find them?”

The boy huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “A rusty old toolbox in the garage? Not a great hiding spot. I would’ve thought that you’d have been better at hiding valuable things,” he said. The unspoken  _because you’re a pirate_  hanging like a pall in the air between them. “It made me mad, Killian.”

“Henry–” he started, but the boy cut him off abruptly.

“No, wait. I need to explain. It made me mad  _at first_. I know that Mom thinks you got rid of them, like she asked.” Henry stood, but made no move to step out from behind the desk. “But then I realized what the Evil Queen was trying to do.”

He started with alarm. “The Evil Queen? Lad, I think it’s best if you start from the beginning.”

Henry took a deep breath and explained about the Evil Queen’s sudden appearance in their backyard earlier this morning and how she’d shown him where Killian had hidden the shears, and everything she’d said. As Killian listened to the lies the queen had told Henry about how he didn’t care about either of them and only wanted to take away what made Emma special, his heart broke even as his anger at the evil woman rose. “Henry, you  _have_  to know that she was lying,” he urged. “I would  _never_  use those shears on your mother against her will.”

“I know,” Henry said with a grim chuckle. “I’m thirteen, not stupid.”

“Well of  _course_  you’re not stupid,” Killian replied. “But you just said yourself that finding them made you angry.”

“Yeah, at first…but not because you kept them. Killian, I’m  _glad_  you kept them. This way, at least we have a backup plan if…if…well, if we can’t figure out anything else. I was mad that you didn’t tell us…or at least me. I can help – we can research the shears and figure out more about how they work, really know what we’re dealing with.”

Killian swallowed hard, touched by Henry’s offer. “So that’s why you stormed off this morning then, is it?”

Henry nodded. “Yeah. I, uh, well you probably could guess I lied about going to meet Violet. I went for a walk so I could think through everything….and, well, if the Evil Queen was watching, it kinda needed to look like I was really angry at you.” He paused as a new thought appeared to occur to him, before continuing, disappointment lacing his tone. “We probably  _shouldn’t_  go sailing this afternoon…just to keep her off track.”

“Aye, probably not,” he conceded with a rueful grin. “But it seems like we have a bit of research to do now, don’t we, lad?”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed. “We do.”

-/-

Some time later, the pair of them sat together in companionable silence at a table that was buried in piles of arcane and magical texts that Belle had helped them pull from the stacks. The shears once again were tucked safely away in the pocket of Killian’s jacket. As he finished leafing through his most recent book – it hadn’t yielded anything helpful – he glanced over at Henry. Something the boy had said earlier had been nagging at him. “Henry?” he said softly. When Henry looked up at him, he continued. “You said earlier that you were upset because I hadn’t told you or Emma that I’d kept the shears. Well, I want you to know why.”

Henry pushed away the book in front of him and turned to face Killian. “I think I get it, actually.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Henry said with a shrug. “You didn’t want it to be a burden on Mom, or make her feel pressured to use them…and you didn’t want to put me in the position of having to keep the secret from her.”

Killian nodded. “Exactly. Your mother is special for so many more reasons than just her magic, but I know she feels that she has a duty to this town and…even though it would be  _indescribably_  difficult if she chose to sacrifice everything…should it come to that…I understand that  _she_  has to be the one to make the choice – I just want her to actually  _have_ options to choose from.”

Henry was silent for a few moments, and when he replied, it wasn’t what Killian had been expecting. “I’ve felt like it’s all been my fault…for bringing her here, for setting her on this path to becoming the Savior…but,” he looked at Killian, the corners of his eyes suspiciously wet, “when I told her that, do you know what she said?”

Killian shook his head and waited for Henry to continue.

“She told me that she’d do it all again…because it brought her family, and made her life full.”

“That sounds just like your mother, lad,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” Henry agreed. “I just don’t want it to have to end.”

“Nor do I,” he said softly, gesturing at the mountain of books still in front of them. “But we’ll not give up till we figure something out lad, I promise you that.”

“I know.” Silence reigned for a few moments before Henry spoke again. “And that was actually the biggest mistake the Evil Queen made.”

“Hmm? What was?”

“She tried to drive us apart by telling me you didn’t care about us,” he said soberly, holding Killian’s gaze. “But when you’ve seen someone  _literally_ die to save their family – more than once – you know how much they care. I know it, Killian.”

He reached out and squeezed Henry’s shoulder. “And I’d do it again, lad.”

Henry nodded. “I know…but if it’s all the same to you, let’s hope that there’s no more need for that – for you or Mom. Okay?”

Killian chuckled. “Agreed.” At that moment, Killian’s phone pinged with an incoming text. He glanced at the screen before turning back to Henry. “Speaking of your mother, it appears that we are both late for dinner and should, as she puts it, ‘get our butts back home if we want to eat before it gets cold’.”

Henry laughed and stood, gathering up his things. “We’d better get going, it sounds like she means business.”

“Aye, lad.” They tidied up the piles of books and brought them into Belle’s office for safekeeping before beginning the walk home through the deepening twilight.

-/-

They reached the house after a roughly ten minute walk, but Henry stopped Killian before he could open the front gate. “We should tell her soon, shouldn’t we?” he asked, gesturing in the general location of the pocket where Killian had re-hidden the shears. “Even if she’ll be kinda angry at first, she should know sooner rather than later, right?”

Nodding slowly, Killian agreed. “Aye, soon.” He paused, looking up at the house, its darker outline silhouetted against the evening sky. “Soon.”


End file.
